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Coates deal imminent as Liverpool shout there way to the top....
The points were in the bag thanks to goals by Jordan Henderson, Martin Skrtel and Charlie Adam, and Liverpool were heading to the top of the Premier League table, albeit for only 20 hours or so.
Suddenly, a stoppage time mistake from Jamie Carragher allowed Ivan Klasnic to grab a Bolton consolation to make it 3-1.
What happened next illustrated the difference between the sloppy Liverpool of a few months ago and the slick, improved Liverpool of now.
Annoyed at failing to follow up his clean sheet at Arsenal with another against Owen Coyle's side, keeper Pepe Reina screamed in frustration and repeatedly kicked his post.
Last season Liverpool raged at losing games to the likes of Blackpool, Wolves, Blackburn and West Ham. Now it is at losing goals.
That along with an injury to Martin Kelly were the only setbacks on an otherwise upbeat day as Liverpool equalled their best start to a Premier League campaign for 17 years.
Yet Kenny Dalglish's team have even discovered the art of turning a negative into a positive as Kelly's replacement, Skrtel, sealed victory with a powerful header, the third successive game a Liverpool player has climbed off the substitutes bench to score.
Uruguay defender Sebastian Coates, who was at Anfield ahead of a £7 million move from Nacional, must have wondered how he is going to cement a regular starting place.
So too captain Steven Gerrard, who has not played since undergoing groin surgery but is now edging back to fitness.
"We've got more competition for places," said Carragher as he reflected on a victory in which Luis Suarez was again pivotal and Lucas produced another midfield masterclass.
"People are actually saying 'I wonder what the team will be'. If we don't know then the opposition don't either.
"When you look at some of the players that we have brought in, Stewart Downing looks like he's going to be a great addition for us and he's started really well.
"But Suarez is as good as anything in the league. He's what Wayne Rooney is at Manchester United and what Carlos Tevez is at Manchester City.
"Stevie is the player we look to in tough times but he's out, so now we have Luis who can be the one who can maybe get us out of trouble."
Stoke are next up for Dalglish's men. In many respects the result in the Potteries will provide a more accurate account of the team's progress under Dalglish than any league table at the end of August.
After all, it was failure to beat Stoke at the Britannia Stadium that proved the beginning of the end of Rafa Benitez's title aspirations in 2008-09.
Roy Hodgson suffered a 2-0 defeat at the same venue last November as Lucas saw red - and Liverpool's travelling fans called for Dalglish to take back the reins at Anfield.
Source: FanhouseUK
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